Brits captured in Ukraine appear on Russian State TV and appeal for swap with Putin ally

Описание: Two British fighters captured in Ukraine by Russian forces appeared on Russian state TV on Monday (April 18) and asked to be exchanged for an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is being held by the Ukrainian authorities.

The two captured Britons - Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin - spoke to the camera after being prompted by an unidentified man, but it is not clear how freely they were able to speak.

The footage was broadcast on Russian state TV channel Rossiya 1.

The men both asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

An unidentified man can be seen showing the two Britons a video appeal on a mobile phone by Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana, in which she asks for her husband to be swapped for the two British nationals.

A video appeal by Medvedchuk, in which he asks to be exchanged, was released on Monday by Ukraine's security service.

In his appeal to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Medvedchuk asked to be swapped for the "defenders of Mariupol and its citizens who are there today and have no opportunity for a safe exit via a humanitarian corridor."

Medvedchuk is the leader of Ukraine's Opposition Platform - For Life party and an ally of Putin, who has spent years advocating closer ties between Russia and Ukraine.

Both Pinner and Aslin had been fighting for the Ukrainian army in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is now almost entirely under Russian control.

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